Lenovo has unveiled a new series, the Ideapas S series. With two optionsa available, the S9 and the S10, sporting a choice of XP or Linux, Australain and US consumers will get the choice of the 10 inch model only and XP only. Why? There’s absolutely no reasonable explanation. Unlike the others, like MSI that just delayed the Linux model (but of course they had enough parts for the XP model to launch on time) or Asus, making the Linux version of the 900 series more expensive than the XP model, Lenovo has made up no excuse as to why Linux models cannot be offered here. But the US? That’s steep. They offer SLED versions of the Thinkpad there and not here. So does Dell with Ubuntu, again not here. And so does HP, offering a SLED mininote there, but I haven’t seen one here (probably available at an online retailer). Same with the linux version of the Acer Aspire.

And yet we keep applauding each manufacturer that joins the fray and offers a nonexistant Linux computer. I don’t think that the Linux netbook market really exists. Yes, there are low cost devices that are aimed at poor people, and education. But they aren’t available for retail.  Then there are the ‘consumer’ Linux models. But they suck, pure and simple. They are usually small, low speced seven inch models, with tiny screens and keyboards. Reviewers always seem to point out the difficult to use touch pad (especially the cloudbook’s), fairly short battery life, etc…

So, if you want a good netbook, you’ll be wanting an 8.9-10 inch model. And you’ll have to pay more, and that means that it’s that much easier to slip in the cost of a MS license. Manufacturers use dodgy pricing and confusing configurations to mask the cost of the Windows operation system, and to make higher margins. And the Linux versions that everyone is raving about seem to dry up. And I’m getting sick of another hyped up product that I’ll never see in a shop, or never consider buying.

A glance at Amazon’s top 25 bestsellers gives a window into today’s netbook market.

The recent $100 price drop of the Asus EEE 1000H has it selling strongly, Acer’s Aspire One Linux is sitting at number 11 and the pre-order XP version is at 14. Various other EEEs make up much of the middle groung and Micro Star International’s Wind is caught up in turbulence at 24.

Given its $399 price tag I expect the 3 cell XP Aspire One to climb that chart, although hopefully they won’t suffer from the quality control issues which sent my Linux One back for repair only days after its unboxing.

Lenovo announced its entries, the S9 and S10, a few days ago. Only the S10 will be coming to the US and will bring a ten inch screen, Atom processor and XP starting from $399 in October…and it looks great.

An unfortunate characteristic of the Wind since its missed launch date of mid-June has been rumored, and now official, price hikes. The 3 cell XP model is now at $499, which looks forgettable compared to the pricing of the One and S10. This Wind is blowing in the wrong direction.

We’re still waiting to see what Dell’s E is going to throw at us, shouldn’t be too long now. Their rumored $299 entry price will ruffle a few feathers and their marketing might will ensure a sale or two.

Then there are still more models expected to launch in Q4 with VIA’s celebrated Nano CPU, just to make buying decisions that little bit harder.

If I was a betting man I’d say that Acer’s Aspire One and Lenovo’s S10 are set to be strong sellers in XP guise. Dell won’t take any prisoners either when they launch. So within a year I expect the Wind and Mini-Note to be shaken out of the market or forced into price cutting. Perhaps the savior of the Mini-Note will be if HP can swap in the Nano for the C7.

For the Wind, price cutting alone may be too late for mainstream buyers. If broad stock fails to arrive soon then how will they break onto retail shelves which already have Acers, Dells and EEE on display? It may end up being too little too late for this great product.

Neil Berman

www.neilberman.com

I had a look at the Everex Cloudbook on Walmart. I don’t really get how you would go about buying one. I’m jealous of all of you in the US that can buy Linux PCs, including a whole lot of cute netbooks.

The digital divide can be explained as the division of technology and the internet across the population. Many factors influence this from economics and beyond to social issues and simple geographical location. I believe the main culprit behind the digital divide is the simple economic aspect, people simply do not have the money to purchase the hardware necessary to access the internet and bridge this digital divide. There is hope though. Several very cheap, very user friendly UMPC’s (ultra mobile personal computers) are being released. The Everex Cloudbook and the Asus EeePC both clock with actual retail prices under $450. These laptops are simply amazing for the price. They come with a new Linux interface that is designed for optimum mobility as far as the user interface is concerned. Capable of WiFi and wireless 3G internet, these machines are extremely versatile and flexible. They have the latest technology that makes wireless internet as well as wired internet easy to set up and efficient to use. Not only are these changing the game as far as price is concerned, they are blurring the line between home maintenance and manufacturer repairs. These OLPC’s being used in third world countries, such as Nigeria, are being fixed and modified by the children who are using them.

Eh oui voilà qu’un constructeur présente encore un concurrent pour l’Eee PC d’Asus. A terme, j’ai l’impression que toutes les marques vont proposer leur ultra portable 7 pouces…

Cette fois-ci c’est au tour d’Everex (une marque je ne connais pas du tout) qui nous propose donc, un ultra portable au nom très inspiré par le marketing apple : le Cloud”Book”.

Au niveau des caractéristiques techniques on retrouve : un processeur VIA C7-M ULV cadencé à 1.2 GHz, un écran7 pouces avec une résolution de 800*400 et non 800*480 comme pour le Eee PC, 512 Mo de mémoire DDR2 (extensible à 1Go), un disque dur PATA 4200 trs/min de 30 Go, une webcam 1.3 megapixels, un lecteur de cartes 4 en 1 et des connecteurs Wi-Fi b/g, DVI-I, Ethernet, Casque, Micro et USB 2.0 (x2). Il pèse 1 Kg avec sa batterie 4 cellules et fonctionne sous un système basé sur gOS Rocket. Le tout pour 399$ aux USA.

Pour l’instant pas de sortie prévue pour l’Europe…

Pour un peu plus d’infos et mes réactions sur le livre nuage, ça se passe en cliquant sur “more”.

Bon après avoir lu un test du CloudBook en anglais sur want to be free ben le verdict est mitigé. Ce que j’ai trouvé de positif sur ce concurrent de l’Eee PC c’est le lecteur multicarte. Après je suis toujours un peu sceptique…

Pour la plateforme qui est une déclinaison de Linux je n’emet pas d’avis ne la connaissant pas. En revanche je regrette encore une fois le fait que la machine fonctionne sur un disque 4200 t/mn très lent. Après pareil on sait que le processeur n’est pas au top et le coupler à 512 mo de RAM n’arrange pas l’affaire.

Le design ne me plait pas trop, on dirait le fameux PC portable à 100 euros qui devait être livré aux pays en voie de développement. De plus l’absence de touchpad en bas au profit d’un systeme à la packard bell XS me laisse perplexe…

Enfin, apparement il n’est pas aisé de se connecter en wifi avec l’engin… Certes ça se résout avec l’installation d’un pilote mais quand même c’est le comble selon moi…

Bref, pour moi, je suis toujours pas devant l’Eee PC killer…

La generazione dei subnotebook è appena iniziata e già si sta aprendo una “guerra” tecnologica. I concorrenti dell’Asus Eee Pc dovrebbero diventare sempre maggiori. La ricerca del notebook a basso costo ma con prestazioni elevate piace al pubblico, tanto che molte case stanno investendo risorse importanti. Il sub notebook di cui vorrei parlare oggi è Everex Cloudbook. La Everex aveva già guadagnato la stima del pubblico interessato al mondo GNU/Linux per aver introdotto sul mercato il primo computer desktop basato sul sistema operativo del pinguino a soli 199 dollari.
Il cloudbook è dotato di sistema operativo gOs, una versione ottimizzata di Ubuntu. Ecco le caratteristiche del prodotto:

1.2GHz, VIA C7®-M Processor ULV,
512MB DDR2 533MHz, SDRAM,
30GB Hard Disk Drive,
7″ WVGA TFT Display (800 x 480),
VIA UniChrome Pro IGP Graphics,
VIA High-Definition Audio,
802.11b/g,
(1) 10/100 Ethernet Port,
(1) DVI-I Port,
(2) USB 2.0 Ports,
(1) 4-in1 Media Card Reader,
(1) .3MP Webcam,
(1) Headphone/Line-Out Port,
(1) Microphone/Line-In Port,
(1) Set of Stereo Speaker,
(1) Touchpad,
(1) 4-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery

Dal sito si legge che il prezzo di vendita è di 399$ dollari ed è disponibile dal 25 gennaio 2008 sui siti Walmart.com e ZaReason.com .
Vedremo come continuerà la battaglia dei subnotebook

Everex debuts $399 ultramobile PC by ZDNet’s Dan Farber — At CES, Everex is launching a $399 ultramobile that will be sold through Walmart.com starting January 25. The low-cost Everex CloudBook uses the open source gOS V2 Rocket operating system and VIA 1.2GHz C7-M ULV processor, same as the $199 Everex gPC. The Cloudbook is designed for Internet usage, not for heavy duty graphics applications. Like [...]

At CES, Everex is launching a $399 ultramobile that will be sold through Walmart.com starting January 25. The low-cost Everex CloudBook uses the open source gOS V2 Rocket operating system and VIA 1.2GHz C7-M ULV processor, same as the $199 Everex gPC. The Cloudbook is designed for Internet usage, not for heavy duty graphics applications. Like the gPC, it will come with software or links to FireFox, gMail, Meebo, Skype, Google Documents & Spreadsheets, Google Calendar, Google News, Google Maps, Wikipedia, Google Product Search, GIMP, Blogger, YouTube, Xine Movie Player, RhythmBox, Faqly, Facebook and OpenOffice.org 2.3.

The unit weighs 2 pounds and is 9.06 x 6.73 x 1.16 inches. It has a 7-inch TFT screen with 800 x 480 native resolution, and has a 30 GB drive and 512 MB of DDR2 533MHz SDRAM. The Cloudbook averages averages 5 hours of battery life with its lithium-ion battery, according to the company, and also includes a 1.3-megapixel Webcam.

For input and output, the Cloudbook includes a DVI-I port, 2 USB 2.0 ports, a RJ45 Ethernet port, headphone/line out jack, microphone/line in jack and 4-in-1 media card reader. For connectivity it offers 802.11b/g and Ethernet.

The gOS is based on the Ubuntu 7.1 Linux desktop developed by an open source startup of the same name. “The gOS is an alternative operating system that makes it apparent that Google is your entire computing experience,” said gOS founder David Liu regarding the release of the gPC in October 2007. “When you make Linux look pretty and put ton of Google apps on it, you pacify it for consumer. You could say gOS is Google inspired but not official stamped.” gOS uses the Enlightenment window manager and has taken cues from Apple in designing the interface.

read more | digg story

Se ponen las pilas y sacan una tabla comparativa de los cuatro principales modelos de UMPC ultra baratos. Muy recomendable para que podamos empezar a tomar la decisión, si es que no la hemos tomado ya.

La tabla en Gizmologia.

Como a todo lo bueno le salen competidores, así que el Asus Eee PC tiene un nuevo enemigo en el mercado de los UMPC. Este enemigo es el Everex Cloudbook, una versión con pinta un tanto extraña pero tanta potencia o más que en portátil de ASUS. Puntos en contra, claramente el diseño, ¿Dónde está el ratón?

Más información en Xataka